Personal Considerations
After approximately four years of undergraduate studying, you are finally handed your diploma and graduate school becomes an option. Questions begin to form in your mind. Should you take a break from school or do you want to get it all done now and enter the work force well equipped? Should you acquire some hands-on work experience first and then apply to graduate school? How do you decided on the right time to go back to school? The easiest way to answer these questions is by looking at your major. Some graduate programs require you to apply right after completing your undergrad program; while your thinking and learning skills are still fresh. Also, there are certain goals that can only be reached if you attend graduate school right away. For example, pre-med students with a goal of becoming doctors usually attend medical school right after college graduation. Waiting to go to school and getting “real world” experience would only delay the process in this case. On the same note, there are some courses that benefit from work experience because what you learn in the work force could add depth to your understanding of the material. Also being in the work force implies building a relationship with your employer which could be useful as some employers help with their employees’ graduate school fees (if the employee agrees to work for the company for a certain period after completing the graduate program). Decio is a PE grad student who is doing a grad school course at the University of Tulsa. Decio is doing multiphase separation (design separators to separate liquid, sand, gas and impurities from the oil). We interviewed him to find out about his decision making process and this is what he had to say: Q: What made decide to go to grad school? ''' A: As a kid I always wanted to attend grad school. When I finished my undergrad program I felt like everything that I knew about petroleum was basic and I wanted to learn more about it but, at the same time, I also wanted to work. I worked for one year. The company gave me the basic training to work in the industry. Everything was going so well that at some point I began to question whether I really needed to go back to school. I spoke to some of my colleagues and they all advised me to go back. I went offshore on an assignment and found myself speaking to a man who was doing his master but at long distance. He too advised me to go for it. I thought to myself if this man who is older and much more experienced than me is doing it then it must really be important to do it. '''Q: Do you feel like the work experience you got makes a difference in your grad course program? A: As an undergrad all you can do is envision the machines and terminology that you are taught. Once you have seen those machines and put some knowledge to practice, coming back to school makes it a lot easier to understand things because you have been there and you have seen it and touched it. Q: How was the application process? A: To me it was very easy because I already knew that I wanted to go to the University of Tulsa. I went to speak to the people in the grad school department and they told me what I needed to have. They asked for three letters of recommendation, which were easy to attain, and I also had to write a letter stating why I wanted to go to grad school. I had to take the GRE exam, which stands for graduate record exam, and it tests your ability to do well in grad schools. There is the quantitative, verbal and the analytical section. Basically it’s a reasoning exam, the verbal part I think was lucky because of the fact I speak Portuguese. Q: Being an international student, what kinds of things do you feel like you had to sacrifice? A: My family and close friends. After being home for a year I get attached to being with them again. Also I made some really good friends at work. Coming back I had to get used to the distance again Q: Relationships? Did you have any plans of getting married and having children? A: Having kids before finishing grad school was never part of my plans. Although I have been with my girlfriend for a long time and she has always known about my plans, it wasn’t easy to let go and to get used to the idea of me having to leave again. Q: Any advice for people who are considering grad school? A: Go for it! Although it sounds like more school work, it’s more than that. It teaches you discipline and it’s a challenge. The way I look at it doesn’t matter what course you go into. The knowledge and discipline that you will get are worth the time. And it’s that knowledge that will separate you from the rest when you go back to the “real world”.